The Next Web

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For years, one question in Microsoft’s internal employee survey served as a reliable pressure gauge. It asked whether staff felt they were getting a “good deal at Microsoft,” defined as “a reasonable balance between what I contribute to Microsoft and what I get in return.” When the scores dropped lo

Alphabet just raised $85 billion for AI, smashing the largest equity offering in history

The public markets have been asked whether they believe in AI, and they have answered with $85 billion. Alphabet’s record-shattering equity offering, which priced on 2 June, is not just the largest stock sale in tech history. It is the largest equity offering of any kind, in any industry, ever. The

Hackers asked Meta’s AI chatbot to hand over Instagram accounts, and it did

No phishing link. No malware. No SIM swap. Hackers took over high-profile Instagram accounts over the weekend by doing something disarmingly simple: they asked Meta’s AI customer support chatbot to change the email address on someone else’s account. The bot complied without verifying the requester’s

A popular OpenAI Codex tool with 29,000 weekly downloads has been quietly stealing developer tokens for a month

The npm package looked legitimate. It had an active GitHub repository, steady development history, and roughly 29,000 weekly downloads. For developers using OpenAI Codex, it offered exactly what it advertised: a remote web UI for the AI coding tool. But for the past month, every invocation of codexu

Uber cuts nearly a quarter of its HR division as new president reshapes the company from the inside

Three weeks into her expanded role as president and chief corporate affairs officer, Jill Hazelbaker is already cutting. Uber announced on Wednesday that it is eliminating 23% of positions in its People and Places division, the unit responsible for human resources, recruitment, workplace facilities,

Meta spent $400 million and fought the US government to buy a VR fitness app, then let its creators take it back

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In 2023, Meta fought an eight-month antitrust battle with the Federal Trade Commission for the right to acquire Within, the studio behind the VR fitness app Supernatural. The deal was reportedly worth around $400 million. Mark Zuckerberg even testified in court to get it done. Less than three years

One click on GitHub.dev is all it takes to hand over your private repositories

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Every developer who has ever pressed the period key on a GitHub repository, launching the convenient browser-based VS Code editor known as GitHub.dev, has unknowingly accepted a bargain. In exchange for a lightweight coding environment, GitHub silently passes an OAuth token to the session, one that

Anthropic picks Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs to lead its IPO, with a SpaceX computing deal worth $1.25 billion per month buried in the fine print

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Anthropic has selected Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs to lead its initial public offering, with JPMorgan Chase also working on the deal, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday. The Claude developer is weighing going public as soon as October after filing confidentially for a listing on Monday. More banks c

The EU is asking households to cut electricity use during peak hours because AI data centres are straining the grid

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The European Commission has called on households across the bloc to reduce electricity consumption during peak hours, citing the rapid growth of AI data centres, accelerating electrification, and rising overall digital infrastructure demand as factors straining European power grids. The Commission s

Virtual barbarians at the gate: securing the AI blind spot

6 hours ago

Many companies have quickly moved to adopt artificial intelligence in their systems, embedding it into virtually everything from customer apps to internal systems. That speed has created new pressure for security teams, because AI-enabled applications can introduce unfamiliar attack surfaces, unpred

6 biggest tech nightmares to avoid next time you travel abroad

Drop me on a Balinese coastline with a decent paperback and my smartphone, and I’ll luxuriate for two weeks straight. But fly me out to the same spot with a Nokia 3310 and a physical map, like the one my dad used to carry, and I’ll probably have a nervous breakdown. Most of us can agree that we’re h

Meet the finalists of the TNW València startup pitch battle

Some of Europe’s hottest startups arrived at TNW València last week to develop ideas, expand networks, create new leads, and — and most importantly of all — fight. Not in the physical sense, of course, but in a fiercely-contested TNW València pitch battle. After surviving a series of fiery knockout

TNW València has arrived! Here are some highlights from Day 1

TNW València is finally here! Founders, investors, business leaders, and tech enthusiasts descended on València’s marina this morning to discover the next in tech, now. Before long, the venue — nestled between the historic inner city and the crystal clear waters of the Mediterranean — was bustling w

Stockholm is a world-class tech hub: 6 startups and scaleups to watch

Once predominantly known for IKEA, Ericsson, and Volvo, in the past decade, Sweden has emerged as one the most valued tech ecosystems in Europe, with Stockholm ranking as the fifth top performer in 2021. The success of Swedish startups such as Tink and Spotify has turned the capital city into a worl

Opinion: The AI pope coat is the shape of hyperreality to come

By now, you’ll have seen it. Pope Francis walks across the frame, his focus on the mid-distance. He’s brightly lit as though it’s early morning. A silver cross hangs from his neck, dangling over his snow-white, Balenciaga-inspired puffer jacket. It’s the baller bishop, the steezy father, his holy dr

Why third-party app stores are good for Apple’s users — and the company

With the passage of the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) in 2022, online platforms, including Apple, with EU revenues of 75 billion euros or more and at least 45 million active monthly end users must open up their devices to third party app stores. The DMA aims to end unfair practices by l

Award-winning economist has tapped AI to close the gender equity gap

The gender equity gap in the tech sector is well-documented. Research has found that women occupy only 22% of all tech roles across European companies, while the proportion of funding raised by female-only teams has dropped from 3% to 1% since 2018. The issue is prevalent at every level of the indus

3 things you can do to stand out in a job interview

Congratulations! You’ve just landed an interview for a position you really want… although now comes the hard part. Generally considered to be the most daunting stage of the entire job hunt, the interview experience can be overwhelming, nerve-wracking and wholly unpleasant, quite frankly, especially

Swedish startup takes commuting by boat to new heights — literally

Is it a boat or is it a plane? Put your glasses on! This is clearly an electrically-powered hydrofoil passenger ferry. The brainchild of Swedish startup Candela, the P-12 Shuttle is set to become the fastest and longest-range electric passenger vessel in the world when it launches this summer. Fou

How an outsider’s freedom can make a successful startup founder

Building a startup in a sector you’ve never worked in might seem a risky move, but it can actually provide a competitive advantage. That’s certainly proven true for Vivino. Founded in 2010 in Copenhagen, the scaleup has raised $221 million in funding, and become the world’s most downloaded wine app

The world’s first self-driving bus fleet will soon hit Scotland’s streets

Next time you board a bus in Scotland and it’s driving itself, don’t freak out — this is all part of a government plan to bring self-driving tech into the mainstream. Five fully autonomous buses will be taking to the streets near Edinburgh next month, announced Stagecoach, the UK’s largest bus and c

Digital twins could save your life. Here’s how

Digital twins — virtual replicas of real-world things — are already commonplace in manufacturing, industry, and aerospace. There are highly complex digital models of cities, ports, and power stations — but what about people? The idea of digital doppelgängers has long been confined to the realm of s

TNW València 2023 was a blast — here are our favourite moments

For 16 memorable years, TNW Conference has been at the center of Amsterdam’s tech ecosystem, but on March 30 and 31, TNW València brought — for the very first time — the heart of tech to Spain’s east coast. But we didn’t choose Valencia simply for its bright blue sea, delicious paellas, or sunny wea

Mammoth meatball beef exposes foodtech’s patent problem

A bitter feud has erupted over who first resurrected the woolly mammoth — as a meatball. The de-extinct delicacy was unveiled last week at Nemo Science Museum in the Netherlands. Naturally, no mammoths were harmed in the making of this product — and nor were any other animals. In lieu of dead flesh,

Everything you need to know about building a career in the gaming industry